Judge Tashima spells out fairly accurately, I think, both the facts of this case as well as what's at stake on both sides:
"In September 2015, a student at Dallas High School who
had been born and who remained biologically female publicly
identified as a boy, and he asked school officials to allow him
to use the boys’ bathroom and locker room. Defendant-Appellee Dallas School District No. 2 (the “District”)
responded by creating and implementing a “Student Safety
Plan” for the transgender boy (“Student A”) and any other
transgender student who might make a similar request in the
future, in order to ensure that transgender persons like
Student A could safely participate in school activities.
The Plan acknowledged Student A as a “transgender
male” and permitted him to use the boys’ locker room and
bathroom facilities with his peers at Dallas High School.3
The Plan also provided that, while Student A had not
indicated “which bathroom he feels comfortable using,”
Student A could “use any of the bathrooms in the building to which he identifies sexually.” In addition, to ensure Student
A’s safety, the Student Safety Plan provided that all staff
would receive training and instruction regarding Title IX, that
teachers would teach about anti-bullying and harassment, that
the Physical Education (“PE”) teacher would be first to enter
and last to leave the locker room, and that Student A’s locker
would be in direct line of sight of the PE teacher in the
coach’s office. The Student Safety Plan also listed several
“Safe Adults” with whom Student A could share any
concerns.
Student A began using the boys’ locker room and
changing clothes “while male students were present.” This
caused several cisgender boys “embarrassment, humiliation,
anxiety, intimidation, fear, apprehension, and stress,” because
they had to change clothes for their PE class and attend to
their needs while someone who had been assigned the
opposite sex at birth was present.4 Although privacy stalls
were available in the bathrooms, these were insufficient to
alleviate the cisgender boys’ fear of exposing themselves to
Student A, because the stalls had gaps through which
“partially unclothed bodies” could “inadvertently” be seen.
And an available single-user bathroom was often
inconvenient or was considered inferior because it lacked a
shower. As a consequence of their fear of exposure to
Student A, some cisgender boys began using the restroom as
little as possible while at school, and others risked tardiness by using distant restrooms during passing periods in order to
try to find a restroom in which Student A was unlikely to be
present.
When parents and other students in the Dallas community
became aware of the Student Safety Plan, many opposed it
publicly at successive school board meetings, in an effort to
dissuade the District from implementing the policy. Some
parents in the District are concerned and anxious about the
prospect of their children using locker rooms or bathrooms
together with a student who was assigned the opposite
biological sex at birth. The Student Safety Plan also
interferes with some parents’ preferred moral and/or religious
teaching of their children concerning modesty and nudity. In
addition, several cisgender girls suffered from stress and
anxiety as a result of their fear that a transgender girl student
who remains biologically male would be allowed to use the
girls’ locker room and bathroom. Girls had the option of
changing in the nurse’s office, but it was on the other side of
the school."
Yep. We're dealing with kids, and nudity, and discomfort. On both sides. In the world and culture in which we currently persist, there's no easy or totally perfect solution. Sure, you can imagine a world and culture in which this isn't a problem. But we're not there. Yet, certainly.
Just as his statement of facts seems fair, balanced and accurate, so too is the Ninth Circuit's holding. Concisely stated in the opening paragraphs of Judge Tashima's opinion:
"This case concerns whether an Oregon public school
district may allow transgender students to use school
bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers that match their
gender identity rather than the biological sex they were
assigned at birth. Plaintiffs oppose the school district’s
policy, asserting that it violates Title IX, as well as the
constitutional rights—including the right to privacy, the
parental right to direct the education and upbringing of one’s
children, and the right to freely exercise one’s religion—of
students and of parents of students in the school district.
Defendants and many amici highlight the importance of the
policy for creating a safe, non-discriminatory school
environment for transgender students that avoids the
detrimental physical and mental health effects that have been
shown to result from transgender students’ exclusion from
privacy facilities that match their gender identities.
It is clear that this case touches on deeply personal issues
about which many have strong feelings and beliefs.
Moreover, adolescence and the bodily and mental changes it
brings can be difficult for students, making bodily exposure
to other students in locker rooms a potential source of
anxiety—and this is particularly true for transgender students
who experience gender dysphoria. School districts face the
difficult task of navigating varying student (and parent)
beliefs and interests in order to foster a safe and productive learning environment, free from discrimination, that
accommodates the needs of all students. At the outset, we
note that it is not our role to pass judgment on the school
district’s policy or on how the school district can best fulfill
its duty as a public educational institution. We are asked only
to resolve whether the school district’s policy violates Title
IX or Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
In a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, the district court
dismissed the federal causes of action against the school
district for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be
granted. Parents for Privacy v. Dallas Sch. Dist. No. 2,
326 F. Supp. 3d 1075 (D. Or. 2018). We agree with the
district court and hold that there is no Fourteenth Amendment
fundamental privacy right to avoid all risk of intimate
exposure to or by a transgender person who was assigned the
opposite biological sex at birth. We also hold that a policy
that treats all students equally does not discriminate based on
sex in violation of Title IX, and that the normal use of privacy
facilities does not constitute actionable sexual harassment
under Title IX just because a person is transgender. We hold
further that the Fourteenth Amendment does not provide a
fundamental parental right to determine the bathroom policies
of the public schools to which parents may send their
children, either independent of the parental right to direct the
upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by
it. Finally, we hold that the school district’s policy is
rationally related to a legitimate state purpose, and does not
infringe Plaintiffs’ First Amendment free exercise rights
because it does not target religious conduct. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s dismissal with prejudice of the
action."
With respect to those that disagree (and I know there are many), the world's a better place with school policies like this one. As well as with holdings like the one here.
They're consistent with the better parts of our world and who we are (or might eventually be).
